Last night I was bored, and since it was a warm night here in the East Bay, I decided to go out in the woods in the evening looking for snakes. Well it got dark pretty quick, and after flipping rocks and logs and finding nothing but cows, I got in my car and drove home disappointed. I was about to get on the freeway when I spotted that familiar black and white ribbon crossing the road! I almost hit it but I braked quickly, did a U turn, and caught a young Cal King.
It was about 3 feet long and was eager to bite and musk. I caught it without getting bitten, but I got musk all over my hands (which later got on my steering wheel 
). Yuck. The funny thing is, it looked kinda like it had a prolapse. There was a lot of musk and a small amount of blood coming out, and the snake had smeared it all over itself. I thought I might have hit it, but its tail showed no signs of being smashed or injured. I held it for a couple minutes, then let it go and I went on my way.
Is this normal for musking snakes to do? Bleed from their vent? Or was it something else?
